Current consumers are much smarter, or at least before making a purchase, they know that they have at their disposal a huge amount of information at their fingertips, and do not hesitate to look at various sites opinions, comments, comparisons or reviews of the products.
The big question that sellers ask today is where are they doing the searches? The answer is simple: it depends on what you want to buy. A study by M Booth and Beyond shows, according to the different categories of products, where users are looking for that information.
Consumers tend to go directly to web pages when they want to buy appliances, use the global search to buy a trip, or enter forums when they want to buy a car.
Consequently, electronics companies should boost their websites, travel brands should invest more in SEO and car companies participate much more in the forums to know what people think about their cars.
But let’s analyze a little more in depth the infographic presented at the conclusion of the report, where it explains where consumers go and turn to obtain product information, suggesting to the sellers which marketing channels deserve more attention than the others.
The Top5 of channels that most consumers use we see that it is dominated by search results, followed by brand websites, new content (news), product review sites and online advertising.
To learn more about the breakdown by sector, we see that 93% of people seeking a trip, based on the traditional search engine to find the best deals. 49% of consumers who search for restaurants do so through Facebook, a social network that is also used by 63% of people looking for products or brands of babies. 91% of consumers of electronic products go directly to the web pages of the brands they want.
55% of these consumers of electronics, say they are significantly influenced by the comments in forums, so companies should always keep an eye on what is said of them on the web.
On the other hand, 66% of consumers who search for beauty products rely heavily on search engine sponsored ads, 44% of those who search for a car do so in forums and, finally, 40% of people who dine in a restaurant. Restaurant do check-in on Foursquare.
As we see in the following infographic, each sector has a channel of preference and a priori, they are very logical each one of them. The important thing is for brands to evaluate which channel they need the most and to empower it, while understanding that not all platforms are useful for our strategies.